Monitor Power Save - Fedora and XP Home dual boot

[Tanatz]

I am dual booting Windows XP Home and Fedora. I've had this problem with other Linux distros as well, such as Redhat 7 & 8, as well as Mandrake 8 & 9.

Under Windows, I have my power save option set to turn the monitor off after 20 minutes, with no screen saver. After 20 minutes, the monitor powers off, and the LED on the monitor turns orange.

Under Linux, I have Standby disabled, Suspend disabled and Power off set to 20 minutes.

The difference is that under Linux, after 20 minutes my monitor just turns black and the LED stays green. Under Windows, after 20 minutes you can actually hear the monitor power down ( the static sound you hear when you turn a TV or monitor off ) and the LED turns orange. What do I do to make it so that the monitor fully powers down under Linux?

[TJthepenguin]

Preferences
screensaver
advanced tab
powermanagement check box
set time

[mdwatts]

Have a look at the -dpms, +dpms and 'dpms flags' options for xset (man xset).

Also

Option "DMPS" "0" OR "1"

in the Device section of your X config. The XF86Config manpage (man XF86Config) should explain the DPMS option.

Using KDE?

KDE Control Center under Power Control then Display Power Control.

[Tanatz]

Yes, I'm using KDE. The Power Management tab is already configured as you suggest, but it still does not power off after 20 minutes. I even tried turning Suspend and Stanby to activate after 20 minutes, and power off to activate after 25 minutes, still with no luck.

Mdwatts, I'll figure out what you mean and get back to you with the results ;)

[Tanatz]

I just did some research:

http://webpages.charter.net/dperr/dpms.htm

I do not have my video card's driver installed, could that be the problem?

I haven't gotten around to installing it yet ( just a few plugins and the Mozilla browser update ) because I'm testing the Fedora waters.

[mdwatts]

Originally posted by Tanatz

I do not have my video card's driver installed, could that be the problem?


What video card do you have and what driver are you currently using?

i.e.

Section "Device"
Identifier "FX 5600[0]"
Driver "nvidia"

[Tanatz]

Section "Device"
Identifier "Videocard0"
Driver "vesa"
VendorName "Videocard vendor"
BoardName "VESA driver ( generic )


I have a Radeon 9800, I've downloaded and installed the XFree86 4.3 driver version, however it didn't run correctly - I plan on reinstalling it tomorrow.

My OpenGL vendor string reads:

Mesa project: www.mesa3d.org

as opposed to:

ATI technologies Inc.

ATI recommends to reinstall and check for error messages during install and to make sure I answer correctly during fglrxconfig ( which is where I'm guessing I made my mistake ).


As a side note, my mouse scroll wheel no longer works after trying to install my video card driver ;)

[mdwatts]

Have you tried adding

Option "DMPS" "1"

to the Device section of your X config?

Anything in the xset manpage (man xset) that could be helpful?

Sorry as I have no idea about why the mouse scroll does not work after installing the ATI drivers. You would need to review your X logfile when that happens using.

grep EE /var/log/XFree86.0.log

[Tanatz]

Thanks for your help Md, I'm at work now but I'll try some things out when I get home. Also, sorry if I can't be as thorough as I'd like in diagnosing my problem - I'm not that Linux savy but one thing I HAVE learned from these boards is to avoid asking questions that are easily answered through a bit of research.

About the mouse thing, the only thing I can think of that would mess up my mouse configuration was during fglrxconfig, there was a question inquiring about where mouse data was located or something like that, and I pointed it to /dev/psaux, however that might be correct. It could have been /dev/usbmouse.

[mdwatts]

Originally posted by Tanatz

About the mouse thing, the only thing I can think of that would mess up my mouse configuration was during fglrxconfig, there was a question inquiring about where mouse data was located or something like that, and I pointed it to /dev/psaux, however that might be correct. It could have been /dev/usbmouse.

Always make a backup copy of your X config before reconfiguring so if you have any problems, you can still view the previous config to see what was used before.

You should be using either /etc/X11/XF86Config or XF86Config-4.

cd /etc/X11

cp XF86Config XF86Config.orig

or

cp XF86Config-4 XF86Config-4.orig

(as root)

[Tanatz]

I'm logged in as root and I cannot seem to access the XF86Config file.

In my /etc/X11 folder, I have a file called:

XF86Config
XF86Config.orig
XF86Config.backup
XF86Config.backup.orig

XF86Config and XF86Config.orig have a padlock symbol on them when I search through GUI.

[mdwatts]

Originally posted by Tanatz
I'm logged in as root and I cannot seem to access the XF86Config file.

In my /etc/X11 folder, I have a file called:

XF86Config
XF86Config.orig
XF86Config.backup
XF86Config.backup.orig

XF86Config and XF86Config.orig have a padlock symbol on them when I search through GUI.

How are you trying to access? Using

cd /etc/X11

cat XF86Config

less XF86Config

vi XF86Config

or a gui text editor?

Does anyone here remember what the padlock symbol indicates?